Sunday 29 November 2009

University World News 0103 29th November 2009

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

US-CHINA: No hope of meeting Obama's goal
John Richard Schrock*
President Barack Obama plans to increase student exchanges with China by boosting the number of Americans studying there to 100,000. But a close accounting of American students able to study in China for more than a few weeks of sightseeing reveals the US cannot meet that goal.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: Shifting balance of foreign students
Sarah King Head
Although a recent report applauds the fact that the number of foreign students attending American colleges and universities hit a new peak in 2008, a disaggregation of the data reveals worrisome underlying trends in undergraduate and graduate student numbers.
Full report on the University World News site:

EU-Denmark: The flip-side of quality assurance
Ard Jongsma
Can quality assurance processes stimulate creative and innovative learning? This provocative question fuelled discussions at the packed Fourth European Quality Assurance Forum on Higher Education in Copenhagen last week where 500 participants from some 65 countries considered the good and the bad trends in European quality assurance processes.
Full report on the University World News site:

POLAND: Boosting prospects for the young
Young Poles have been hit hard by the jobs crisis, says a report by the OECD. The report says the Polish government should invest more in vocational training schemes and temporarily cut the cost of employing low-skilled school-leavers. Jobs for Youth notes that the employment crisis has hit young Poles at a time when their situation in the labour market was already difficult.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Rectors defend their Bologna stance
Michael Gardner
A meeting of German university heads in Leipzig attracted further angry student protests. Around 4,000 students joined a demonstration in the East German city to emphasise their frustration over the Bologna reforms. The Rectors' Conference, representing university heads, claimed the protests were unjustified.
Full report on the University World News site:

SWEDEN: Universities call for fee delay
Jan Petter Myklebust
Top university academics have called on the Swedish government to delay plans to introduce fees for foreign students. The pro-rectors said making students pay fees would affect their internationalisation work and erode international masters degrees taught in English.
Full report on the University World News site:

GREECE: Alternative network under threat
Makki Marseilles
Criminal action brought against the rector and the two vice-rectors of the Athens Technological University, on the very day of the 36th anniversary of the student uprising against the colonel's military junta which started in the grounds of the institution, has shocked and dismayed the Greek academic community.
Full report on the University World News site:

US-CANADA: Help filling forms boosts enrolments
Maya Jarjour
The simple act of assisting students to fill out financial aid forms could help increase enrolment rates, according to the findings in a new US-Canada study. It found college enrolment rates increased by 29% when individuals received assistance in completing the forms.
Full report on the University World News site:

ZIMBABWE: Forex-short students barter fees
Zimbabwean students have resorted to bartering to pay fees because of critical foreign currency shortages, according to a report by the country's Comptroller and Auditor General Mildred Chiri. Some students have settled payments using groceries, livestock and other valuables instead of cash.
Full report on the University World News site:

CHINA-AFRICA: Three-year partnership plan announced
Wagdy Sawahel
China and 49 African countries have agreed on a three-year action plan to establish strategic partnerships in science and technology as well as higher education to promote knowledge-based sustainable development. The plan was announced earlier this month at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.
Full report on the University World News site:

BENIN: Steady growth in private tertiary institutions
Tunde Fatunde
After four years steady growth in the private tertiary education sector, Benin now has 15 private institutions. Many are affiliated to universities in France, Belgium and Canada, and there are plans to set up satellite campuses of European universities in the West African nation.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWSBRIEFS

NEW ZEALAND: New era begins for enrolments
John Gerritsen
For years, New Zealanders have been almost assured of a place at university, but as enrolments begin for the 2010 academic year it appears those days are over.
Full report on the University World News site:

KENYA: Universities commit to fight HIV-AIDS
Dave Buchere
Universities in Kenya have stepped up efforts to combat the spread of HIV-Aids on campuses. Realising the virus threatens the goals of a university education, institutions have incorporated HIV-Aids learning as a core unit in academic programmes or in extra-curricular activities.
Full report on the University World News site:

TUNISIA: Euro-Mediterranean academics meet
Academics and experts from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Europe agreed on the need to strengthen Euro-Mediterranean cooperation to modernise the education systems in the region and adjust it to scientific progress and innovation, at a Maghrebi Conference on Higher Education Reform in Tunis.
Full report on the University World News site :

DR CONGO: Minister plans purge of "fraudulent dumps"
Many of the higher education institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa were "fraudulent money-gathering dumps", claimed Léonard Mashako Mamba, Minister for Higher Education and Research, who has promised action to shut down those not up to acceptable standards.
Full report on the University World News site :

NAMIBIA: Vice-chancellors' forum established
Utaara Hoveka*
The first Vice-chancellors and Rectors Forum for Namibia has been established. Chair of the forum and Vice-chancellor of the University of Namibia, Professor Lazarus Hangula, said it created a framework for tertiary education in Namibia to consult, collaborate and share resources.
Full report on the University World News site:

ZAMBIA: Non-paying students deregistered
The University of Zambia has deregistered 200 students for failing to pay their fees, the country's Deputy Education Minister Clement Sinyinda told parliament. He said the students had been "automatically deregistered" and barred from writing examinations because of non-payment for the first semester, despite being allowed to pay in instalments.
Full report on the University World News site:

SCIENCE SCENE

AFRICA: Civil war more likely with climate change
Increased temperatures associated with climate change are likely to significantly increase the incidence of civil war in sub-Saharan Africa within the next two decades, according to a new study by US researchers.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Water research initiative expands
Munyaradzi Makoni
The University of Stellenbosch will lead an initiative to expand a Southern African network of centres of excellence in water research for the next three years. Driven by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), the development arm of the African Union, the research network is an important instrument in tackling Africa's critical water problems.
Full report on the University World News site:

EUROPE: Decade promoting women in science
A European Commission group set up to promote the participation of women in science celebrates its 10th birthday this month. Named after the location of its first meeting in 1999, the Helsinki Group meets twice a year to discuss national policies and promotes the participation and equality of women in the sciences on a Europe-wide basis.
Full report on the University World News site:

EUROPE: Large Hadron Collider back in business
The world's largest science experiment, the Large Hadron Collider, began activity again this month after more than a year of repairs. Last week, scientists circulated two beams of particles simultaneously around the collider for the first time, testing the equipment's ability to synchronise the beams and look for proton-to-proton collisions.
Full report on the University World News site:

FEATURES

CHINA-AFRICA: Development partner or neo-coloniser?
Loro Horta*
The second China-Africa summit meeting in Egypt, which witnessed the Chinese pledge $10 billion in concessional loans to African countries, has again brought to the fore the debate over China's growing profile in the continent. Is it a boon to Africa as China and many commentators maintain or is it a return to neo-colonial exploitation, as many critics claim? The truth, as usual, may be somewhere between the two. First Published by YaleGlobal Online.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: Harvard: still the world's finest
Luke Slattery*
Veritas may be Harvard's official motto but excellence is its raison d'être. The oldest university in the US is also, by general consensus, the world's finest. And for President Drew Gilpin Faust, the first woman to lead the venerated Boston institution and a celebrated historian in her own right, no strategic aim rivals the importance of maintaining Harvard's position atop an increasingly competitive global higher education system.
Full report on the University World News site:

HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

SOUTH AFRICA: Huge journal profits hit universities
Adam Habib*
Can you imagine an industry in which the workers who laboriously produce the product are paid by the public purse, those that painstakingly review the quality of the product are also paid by the public purse, and then the product is sold by a private company back to public institutions at a huge profit? The company tends to be European or North American, its products are priced in euros or dollars and its publicly-paid workforce comes from across the globe as do its large profits — at the cost of the beleaguered budgets of nation states, especially those of the developing world. The situation reminds one of feudal relations established in the colonies at the height of imperialism. Yet such an industry thrives in the 21st century: this is the world of the international academic journals publication industry. Article first published in BusinessDay.
Full report on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories

AUSTRALIA: Collapse spreads around global village
Geoff Maslen
News spreads fast in the global village created by the World Wide Web. And bad news always travels that much more quickly than any other kind — as the Australian government found to its likely cost this month when a Chinese-owned company called the Global Campus Management Group that ran a series of vocational education colleges in Melbourne and Sydney for foreign students suddenly shut its doors and went into voluntary liquidation.
Full report on the University World News site:

EGYPT-ALGERIA: Football tensions hit academic links
Ashraf Khaled
Tensions between Egypt and Algeria — the worst in years between two Arab countries — have seriously damaged relations in various fields including academic links. People and media in both countries have been engaged in an angry war of words since 18 November when their national football teams met in a play-off in Sudan for the 2010 World Cup.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: University students upset about fitness class
A Pennsylvania university's requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts, writes Kathy Matheson for Associated Press.
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US: Atheist student groups flower on campuses
The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: "Ask an Atheist". Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with 'soc ialist', writes Eric Gorski for ABC News.
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U-SAY

AUSTRALIA: Indian student market has collapsed
From Arun Bhutani
The Indian market for Australian higher education has already collapsed (letter from Arun Bhutani). It is down to less than 20% in most of the Indian states because of the attacks on Indian students followed by change in the mindset of the visa processing teams from "why to reject" to "why to issue" a visa.
Full letter on the University World News site:

VIETNAM: Student assessment of lecturers a waste
From Professor TK Raja
It is an exaggeration to say there is large-scale academic fraud in Vietnamese universities (Students will assess their assessors). There may be some isolated incidents of minor fraud which should be ignored but these problems are rampant in all developed countries as well.
Full letter on the University World News site:

FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

IRAN: Scores of students detained, rights group says
Iran has detained scores of students in an apparent bid to prevent new opposition protests during annual Student Day events next month, a Western-based human rights group said, reports Reuters. Iranian police, seeking to avoid any repeat of the huge demonstrations that erupted after a disputed election in June, have warned opposition supporters against using the 7 December Student Day commemorations to hold more rallies.
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US: Congress investigates 'Climategate' e-mails
The United States Congress has begun the process of investigating the leaked climate change e-mails from the University of East Anglia, UK, which means all attempts to suppress and shut down the scandal have failed, writes Gerald Warner for The Telegraph.
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UK: No conspiracy, says email row climate scientist
Professor Phil Jones, the climatologist at the centre of the leaked emails row, said last week that he "absolutely" stands by his research and any suggestion that the emails provide evidence of a conspiracy to manipulate or hide data that do not support the theory of man-made climate change was "complete rubbish", writes Leo Hickman for The Guardian.
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GLOBAL: After 107 years, Rhodes seeks outside funds
Payback time is looming for recipients of one of the world's most prestigious scholarships as the Rhodes Trust is seeking funds for the first time in its 107-year history, writes Peter DeIonno for Business Report. After losing 22% of its holdings in last year's global markets crash, the trust, which administers the Oxford-based Rhodes Scholarship programme, is down to its last £115 million (US$190 million).
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CHINA: PhD explosion accompanied by quality fears
Often overlooked in the 'miracle' of China's rapid economic development over the past three decades is the 'miracle' of the massive number of PhD graduates it now produces, reports Stephen Wong for Asia Times. China is expected to replace Japan as the world's second biggest economy after the US this year or the next in terms of gross domestic product. But by 2008, it had already surpassed the US as the world's top producer of PhD holders — despite postgraduate programmes only resuming in 1978 after the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.
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INDIA: New regulation for university accreditation
India's University Grants Commission has framed a regulation making it mandatory for all universities and colleges to be certified by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), commission chairman Professor Sukhdeo Thorat said last weekend, writes Ananya Dutta for The Hindu. The move is an attempt to assess and thereafter ensure the quality of education offered in institutions of higher education, Thorat explained.
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VIETNAM: PM admits allowing sub-par universities
Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has accepted responsibility for letting several sub-standard universities open recently — but did not absolve the Ministry of Education and the rest of government from blame — VietamNet Bridge reports. Speaking in the National Assembly Dung said he, the ministry and government were all responsible for the poor quality of "some" schools — but he also said the cases were the exceptions, not the rule.
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SAUDI ARABIA: King rebuffs critics on education reform
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, 86, sees the need for speed in changing his country. He is creating secular universities, including a coeducational graduate school, and pushing for more science and technology in education, write Henry Meyer and Glen Carey for Bloomberg. A backlash by clerics, led in public by Sheikh Saad Bin Naser al-Shatri, is slowing those efforts, though the king dismissed al-Shatri from the country's top religious body last month.
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CANADA: Report urges national standards for universities
Canada needs a national standard by which to judge the quality of its post-secondary education institutions, a report released last Tuesday concludes, writes Mike Barber of Canwest News Service. The Canadian Council on Learning study suggests Canadians don't understand what "quality post-secondary education'" should be, due in part to the many jurisdictions into which colleges and universities fall.
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UK: Governors urged to quit after £36 million student scam
The body which funds English universities has taken the unprecedented step of calling for the mass resignation of governors at a university accused of misusing public money, write Lucy Hodges and Richard Garner for The Independent. It follows two damning reports which revealed that London Metropolitan University falsely claimed funding for thousands of students. As a result it has been ordered to repay £36 million (US$60 million) in funding — which is expected to lead to hundreds of job losses among academic staff.
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UK: Cuts will cost universities their international reputations
Universities are facing a new funding crisis with looming public spending cuts and intense competition from overseas, according to Sir Alan Langlands, head of the university funding council for England, writes Polly Curtis for The Guardian. Langlands warned that the UK risks losing its international reputation for higher education as other countries pump cash into universities to try to train people out of the recession.
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US: Season of protests for University of California
Amid a season of protests across the University of California, the system's president and the leader of its premiere campus have increasingly found themselves portrayed as the villains, writes Jack Stripling for Inside Higher Ed. While they are both working to change that, recent public relations missteps may complicate their efforts. Allegations of police brutality during a recent protest at Berkeley and faculty concerns about athletics spending are the latest PR headaches for Robert J Birgeneau, the campus chancellor. As for the system's president, Mark Yudof has been busy defending a 32% tuition hike while suffering criticism for joking about his compensation in a New York Times interview.
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US: Labour fight ends in win for students
The anti-sweatshop movement at dozens of American universities has had plenty of idealism and energy but not many victories, writes Steven Greenhouse for The New York Times. Until now. The often-raucous student movement recently announced that its pressure tactics had persuaded one of the nation's leading sportswear companies, Russell Athletic, to rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when Russell closed its factory soon after the workers had unionised.
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KENYA: President wants hands-on skills for students
President Mwai Kibaki has advised scholars in universities to bequeath students with education that imparts hands-on skills in order to overcome critical challenges facing nations, reports the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. He said there was a need for institutions of higher learning to narrow the gap between academic theory and practice in efforts to tackle various threats facing developing countries.
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Sunday 22 November 2009

University World News 0102 - 22nd November 2009

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

GLOBAL: More countries demand biometrics
Philip Fine
Canada has joined a growing number of nations now requiring foreigners wanting to study in their countries to provide their electronically obtained fingerprints along with their applications.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Huge expansion in overseas campuses
Geoff Maslen
A rapidly growing number of universities across the world are establishing branch campuses in other countries. In fact, the number has almost doubled to 162 in the past three years alone and has jumped eight-fold since 2002. Although the US continues to dominate with its offshore campuses scattered around the globe, more countries have become involved both as hosts and providers.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: More students go abroad, more arrive
Karen MacGregor
As President Barack Obama was announcing a new initiative to send 100,000 American students to China in the coming four years so as to equal the number of Chinese students in the US, the report of an Open Doors 2009 survey last week revealed a record number of US students abroad. More than 262,000 Americans were studying overseas in the 2007-08 academic year — up 8.5% on the previous year — while the number of international students in America grew by 8% to reach nearly 672,000 in 2008-09.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Nationwide Bologna protests
Michael Gardner
Thousands of students took to the streets last Tuesday to voice their anger over the way the Bologna reforms are being implemented and opposition to tuition fees was clearly reflected in the motto "Education is not for sale". The student protest met with at least a partial response by government officials who are now considering restructuring of new courses and better financial support. All sides involved stress, however, they are not opposed in principle to the Bologna process.
Full report on the University World News site:

FINLAND: Universities the key to innovation
Ian R Dobson*
Universities are the key players in constructing Finland's knowledge-based economy, according to the report of an international evaluation of Finland's innovation system. The report says that while there is relatively high investment in higher education R&D and that Finland is well-endowed with researchers, research output relative to inputs as measured by publications is low.
Full report on the University World News site:

VIETNAM: Students will assess their assessors
Dale Down
Vietnamese university students will be encouraged to evaluate the performance of their lecturers from the start of next year. Education and Training Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan made the announcement at a conference held in Hanoi to set directions for the academic year.
Full report on the University World News site:

VIETNAM-FRANCE: Partnership to create new university
Jane Marshall
Vietnam and France have formed a partnership to establish a new university spec ialising in science and technology near the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Known as USTH, it will focus on six strategic multidisciplinary research areas: biotechnology-pharmacology, aeronautics-space, energy, ICTs, materials-nanotechnologies and environment-water-oceanography.
Full report on the University World News site :

NEW ZEALAND: Academics asked to fight war on terror
John Gerritsen*
A government request for university staff to watch out for spies and terrorists has riled New Zealand's Tertiary Education Union, but vice-chancellors say the request was routine. The union revealed last week that the Security Intelligence Service had written to vice-chancellors and then distributed copies of a pamphlet.
Full report on the University World News site :

US: Recruiting participants in research
More than 50 research institutions around the United States now make information about their clinical research trials available on ResearchMatch, the country's first registry for recruiting research participants. The not-for-profit website provides academics interested in participating in research the opportunity to be matched with studies that may be the right fit for them.
Full report on the University World News site :

MALAYSIA: Promoting technology-based innovation
Wagdy Sawahel
Malaysia has launched a plan for promoting universities-industry alliances as well as accelerating national innovation and commerc ialisation activities. These include inauguration of a nanotechnology association and the establishment of a National Innovation Centre as well as a network of centres of innovation excellence.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWSBRIEFS

UK-US: Boost for academic links
Diane Spencer
The British Council is investing $500,000 in strengthening ties between universities in the US and Britain. The UK-US University and College New Partnerships Fund will stimulate increased interaction between UK and US higher education institutions. The funding comes from the Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education with the announcement marking the US International Education Week.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEW ZEALAND: Universities must do more with less
John Gerritsen
Universities have warned New Zealand's government that its plans for tertiary education may come unstuck because of a lack of funding.
Full report on the University World News site :

VIETNAM: Professor wins top award
World renowned astrophysicist Vietnamese-American Professor Trinh Xuan Thuan has been awarded the Unesco Kalinga Prize for his contributions to science. The award was presented at the World Scientific Forum held this year in Hungary.
Full report on the University World News site:

GHANA: Did strikes close public universities?
Kajsa Hallberg Adu
News broke last Monday that Ghana's public universities were closed because of strikes called by the Teachers and Educational Workers' Union. Reports suggested that mid-semester examinations had been affected.
Full report on the University World News site:

BUSINESS

GLOBAL: Harmonised test goes international
Anca Gurzu
Asia is witnessing a dramatic increase in demand for graduate business education as more candidates in the region are writing an American standardised admission test and choosing to study closer to home. A new analysis released by the Graduate Management Admission Council, known as GMAC, the US-based association representing leading graduate business schools worldwide, shows that the number of students in Asia taking its graduate management admission test has increased 75% between 2005 and 2009.


Full report on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Art of negotiating is not always nice
Leah Germain
New research from the Melbourne Business School in Australia suggests that when it comes to negotiation, niceness is not always the best policy — it could mean one party is actually being deceiving. The study links the art of negotiation with different human emotions, including anger, anxiety and pleasantries.
Full report on the University World News site:

EUROPE: Research should play bigger role in policy
Alan Osborn
A better understanding and use of research could eliminate many of the errors made by governments and others in developing policy and lead to much greater effectiveness of governance, according to a report by the League of European Research Universities. The findings may sound banal, but the conclusion is cogently argued by researchers who stand at the top of their field in Europe, and indeed the world, namely Sir Michael Marmot (University College London) an expert on the social determinants of health, and Professor Andreas Kruse (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), an expert on ageing.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: 'Bridge' prepares executives for classroom
Leah Germain
Making the transition from classroom theory to real world work experience is often a difficult feat for any recent business-school graduate looking for a career in today's recovering economy. But for those wanting to make the transition from a work environment to the classroom, the prospect may seem even more intimidating. The US AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) has launched a unique programme to convert experienced business professionals into qualified instructors.
Full report on the University World News site:

BUSINESS FEATURE

AUSTRALIA: Do 'C-grade' students make the best CEOs?
Robert Wood*
Effective CEOs must cope with, and recover from, setbacks and remain adaptive in the face of often overwhelming pressures and competing demands. Those who don't are increasingly being shown the door. C students have to learn how to cope with setbacks and failure to meet expectations and, if they are to get through, recovery strategies for their next assignment or examination. This is all good training to become a CEO.
Full report on the University World News site:

HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

AFRICA: Need for coherent HE policy, informed action
The power of knowledge in the globalised economy has been unequivocally recognised, and with this realisation efforts to revitalise higher education and other knowledge systems around the world have been stepped up. This trend is clearly evident in Africa, writes Dr Damtew Teferra in an editorial for the International Network for Higher Education in Africa based at the Boston College Center for International Higher Education.
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U-SAY

SOUTH AFRICA: Developing nuclear energy skills
From Professor James Larkin
With regard to Alison Moodie's piece "Universities Prepare for a Nuclear Future", I should like to correct the impression that the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA) is a research body. Rather, it is an industry organisation established to champion the cause of nuclear power here in South Africa.
Full letter on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories

UK: Twittering the student experience
An experiment into the use of social media has shown that Twitter, an online blogging service, can act as an exceptional communication tool within academia. The study, published by the Association for Learning Technology, discovered that 'tweeting' helped develop peer support among students — with activity rising just prior to assessment deadlines or during revision for examinations.
Full report on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Professor and bishop spread climate message
Copenhagen will not be the only hot spot where climate change will be discussed next month: A highway in Victoria will feature as well when a professor of environmental science and an Anglican bishop take an eight-day, 180-kilometre stroll across the state's western plains, with an open invitation for anyone to have a chat to them about the challenges facing the region's communities and environments.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: 'Unfriend' is New Oxford's word of the year
'Birther' was in the running and so was 'death panels', but in the end the New Oxford American Dictionary can only pick one word of the year. For 2009, it is 'unfriend', says Oxford University Press.
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UK: Scientist admits to being ex-call girl and author
Research scientist Dr Brooke Magnanti, 34, lifted the lid on one of the literary world's best-kept secrets when she confessed she was the former p rostitute behind a best-selling diary — something her parents only found out about when it appeared in a newspaper — writes Gordon Rayner for The Daily Telegraph.
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FACEBOOK

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WORLD ROUND-UP

FRANCE: Huge loan to fund universities, research labs
French universities and research labs should get the largest chunk of the 35 billion euros ($52 billion) the government plans to raise through a special loan, members of a panel preparing for the loan said on Monday, writes Emmanuel Jarry for Reuters. President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in June plans to raise a large amount of money to fund forward-looking strategic investments and help France emerge from the economic crisis in a stronger position.
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GERMANY: Student tracked down alleged Nazi criminal
Former SS sergeant Adolf Storms lived in Germany unnoticed for more than six decades after World War II until an Austrian university student last year came across his name while researching a 1945 massacre of Jewish forced labourers, writes David Rising for The Associated Press. The student gave the information to state prosecutors near Storms' hometown of Duisburg, and they have now filed charges against the 90-year-old on 58 counts of murder for killings near the Austrian village of Deutsch Schuetzen, a German court said.
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US: Computing rivalling human brain possible by 2019
Computers capable of mimicking the human brain's power and efficiency could be just 10 years off, according to a leading researcher at IBM, writes Daniel Terdiman for CNET News. According to researcher Dharmendra Modha, manager of IBM's cognitive computing initiative, scientists from IBM and some of the world's top universities have already managed to simulate the computing complexity of the feline cortex — a feat that could augur a day not too far off when it will be possible to ramp up to what the human brain can accomplish.
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US: Researchers' conflicts of interest go unreported
Few US universities make required reports to the government about the financial conflicts of their researchers — and even when such conflicts are reported, university administrators rarely require researchers to eliminate or reduce these conflicts — government investigators found, writes Gardiner Harris for The New York Times.
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US: University presidents call for more federal funding
Recalibrating the puzzle pieces of support for public universities to include more financing from the federal government as state contributions wane might offer the best solution for public universities' economic woes, a panel of university presidents concluded at the Association of Public and Land-grant University annual conference held in Washington last week, writes Jennifer Epstein for Inside Higher Ed.
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US: Graduate job market worst in decades — survey
Hiring levels for college graduates across America are at their lowest level in decades and are not expected to improve in 2010, a new survey from Michigan State University has found, writes Sven Gustafson for MLive. The survey also found that graduates must be flexible and entrepreneurial to compete for fewer jobs with lower salaries and benefits.
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UK: Universities bailing out students
Three-quarters of universities in England have had to bail out students with emergency funding because of delays to loans and grants, a BBC survey has found. Tens of thousands of students are still waiting for their first maintenance payments as the Student Loans Company struggles to cope with demand.
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TAIWAN: Universities to admit Chinese students in 2010
Taiwanese universities aim to admit Chinese students for the first time next year, an official said last week, reports AFP. Chinese students from 41 of mainland universities recognised by Taiwanese authorities are expected to start enrolling as early as the autumn term of 2010, an aide quoted Education Minister Wu Ching-ji as saying.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Class of 2008 challenges universities
The University of Johannesburg's goal of raising its throughput rate from 76% to 78% next year would be an "uphill challenge" because of the change in students that has come from the new school curriculum, Vice-chancellor Ihron Rensburg said last week, writes Sue Blaine for Business Day.
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SAUDI ARABIA: Big new medical science project
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Higher Education, Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Anqari, last week signed a SR1.9 billion (US$0.5 billion) contract for the Medical City Project at the Abha-based King Khalid University, reports Zawya.
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CHINA: University pushes bold exam reform
One of China's top higher education institutions, Peking University, last week released a list of 39 high school principals nationwide recognised to recommend students to be enrolled without taking college entrance examinations, reports the Shanghai Daily. Recommended students could be given offers of places after interviews rather than taking the exams.
More on the University World News site:

Sunday 15 November 2009

University World News 0101 - 15th November 2008

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

LATVIA: EUA warns of inadequate spending
The European University Association has warned the Latvian government — and other European nations — that it cannot afford to run the risk of losing "a generation of talented people or of a serious decrease in research and innovation activity". The warning came as an EUA delegation visited Latvia last week to discuss salary cuts and staff reductions imposed on all Latvia's 34 higher education institutions. Worse still, the government's planned 2010 budget for higher education may be halved because of the severe impact of the global financial downturn.
Full report on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA: Fears the Indian market may collapse
Geoff Maslen
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was in India last week in a desperate effort to defuse growing concern among Indian politicians and parents alarmed by violent attacks against their offspring studying in Australia and the closure of more than a dozen training colleges so far this year, stranding nearly 5,000 students. Rudd and his ministers fear the flood of Indian students into Australian education institutions is about to dry up, along with a fair slice of the $2 billion (US$1.86 billion) they contribute each year to the national economy.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: Universities prepare for nuclear future
Alison Moodie
The South African government is keeping its nuclear energy plans under wraps. But leading scientists and researchers are moving ahead with an ambitious project, organised through a network of universities and technical institutions, to prepare for when a peaceful nuclear programme could be the country's principal source of energy.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: International graduate recruitment stalls
David Jobbins
After four years of growth, international recruitment to graduate schools has stalled, according to the latest data. A survey by the Council of Graduate Schools, which represents 500 graduate institutions, shows that between 2008 and 2009 there was zero growth in recruitment from the top three source countries.
Full report on the University World News website:

UWN at the Canadian International Education Conference

CANADA: Students on immigration fast track
Philip Fine
A programme that allows international students to work for up to three years after graduation just might increase Canada's recruitment competitiveness. Foreign applicants for a university place have discovered employment of that duration puts them on an immigration fast track so choosing a Canadian university now offers more than just a degree.
Full report on the University World News site:

CANADA: China signs pacts but faces a conundrum
Philip Fine
The Chinese government appears to be taking a risk: its need to increase the number of its university professors while boosting its research capabilities means education contingents such as the one that arrived at the conference in Toronto will surely reappear. Another two groups of university administrators will again do the meet-and-greet as the Middle Kingdom continues to push for bilateral partnerships with foreign universities.
Full report on the University World News site:

ISLAMIC WORLD: Plan to reform nations' universities
Wagdy Sawahel
The 57 Islamic states have approved a plan for upgrading universities to gain world-class status, as well as reforming them to become "functional developmental institutes" providing valuable resources for business, industry and society. The plan was announced at a workshop in Morocco earlier this month.
Full report on the University World News site:

NAMIBIA: Training academics cuts expat numbers
Utaara Hoveka*
The University of Namibia has trained close to 250 of its staff at postgraduate level over the past 15 years, enabling the institution to drastically reduce its proportion of expatriate academics from 40% to around 6% of all lecturers. Of these, 149 have been trained at masters level while 99 have completed PhD degrees at universities around the world.
Full report on the University World News site:

ZIMBABWE: Lecturer suspended, 'bonding' scrapped
A Zimbabwean lecturer has been suspended for allegedly inciting students and fellow academics to stage protests and boycotts over poor conditions in higher education. This has added pressure on a government that has been forced to abandon a 'bonding' system students described as forced labour. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund has pledged US$653 million to assist in resuscitating the higher and primary education sectors in 2010-11.
Full report on the University World News site:

EGYPT: Axed academics attack deadline
Ashraf Khaled
Ahmed Abdel Rehim, a demonstrator in the faculty of commerce at Ain Shams University, is one of 400 lecturers at Egypt's second biggest public university posted to administrative jobs after failing to meet a deadline to obtain postgraduate degrees. Rehim was among hundreds of angry academics to have twice protested against the move outside the office of the university president.
Full report on the University World News site:


NEWSBRIEFS

UK: Student fees review launched
Diane Spencer
The long-awaited review to overhaul Britain's student funding system was launched last Tuesday by Higher Education Secretary Lord Mandelson with Conservative support although the results will not be available until after the next general election. Former Chief Executive of BP, Lord Browne, was appointed to chair the review amid fears of soaring fees.
Full report on the University World News site:

US-ISLAMIC WORLD: New technology and innovation fund
Wagdy Sawahel
The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation has launched a global technology and innovation fund to facilitate science-based private sector investments that promote technology developments for a knowledge-based society in the Muslim world.
Full report on the University World News site:

FINLAND: What a bunch of rankers!
Ian R Dobson*
Five of Finland's 20 universities were ranked within the world's top 500 universities in the 2009 Academic Ranking of World Universities. As the Shanghai Jiao Tong ranking is based primarily on universities' research performance, the top institution was the University of Helsinki, which was placed 72nd in the world, 21st in Europe and 4th in Scandinavia.
Full report on the University World News site:

N IGERIA: Disabled protest at discrimination
Tunde Fatunde
Disabled students and graduates have staged peaceful protests in several N igerian cities over what they consider unjustified discrimination against them by government officials. They claim they are victims of injustices in the areas of employment and scholarship grants.
Full report on the University World News site:

MAURITIUS: Open University bill approved by government
The government has approved legislation to set up an open and distance education university, and the bill was due for presentation to parliament last week, reported Le Matinal of Port-Louis.
Full report on the University World News site:

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

TURKMENISTAN: Activist forced to leave the country
Daniel Sawney and Jonathan Travis*
Human Rights Watch reports that a biologist and environmental activist who had been imprisoned by authorities in Turkmenistan has been released, apparently on the proviso that he leave the country. Andrei Zatoka was initially sentenced to five years imprisonment for allegedly 'causing bodily harm' after he was attacked by an unknown man in a marketplace last month.
More Academic Freedom reports on the University World News site:

SCIENCE SCENE

EUROPE: Satellite will monitor climate change
Jane Marshall
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite launched this month will monitor climate change. SMOS is the first satellite designed to map sea surface salinity and to survey soil moisture on a global scale. The project is led by the European Space Agency in collaboration with France and Spain.
Full report on University World News site:

SWITZERLAND: Melting glaciers leach banned chemicals
Emma Jackson
'Out of sight, out of mind' may have worked for chemical cleanups in the 1950s but now Swiss researchers from several national institutes have discovered long-banned chemicals are popping back into view — turning up in glacial lake sediments at levels not seen since they were in use more than 50 years ago. The spike is attributed to glacial melting induced by climate change.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: New dinosaur discovery
Munyaradzi Makoni
The story of evolution continues to be told with the recent discovery in South Africa of a new species of dinosaur called Aardonyx celestae. Also known as Earth Claw — a name derived from its gargantuan-sized feet — the dinosaur was unearthed by a team of South African, Australian and American scientists on a farm in the central Free State province.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: Smell holds preservation information
The smell of old books holds a lot more than the promise of a good read, thanks to British and Slovenian research into a new way of monitoring the decay of books. The scientists identified compounds that could be used to assess the condition of an old book by 'sniffing' its odour.
Full report on the University World News site:

FEATURES

AUSTRALIA: Has the great Indian bubble burst?
Geoff Maslen
Some 90,000 students from India are now studying in Australia's schools, colleges and universities but there is growing concern the Indian market is about to collapse. The downturn began when the Indian print and electronic media reported savage attacks on Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney but the fall in student visa applications has accelerated after the Australian Immigration Department tightened the rules governing permanent residency.
Full report on the University World News site:

SOUTH AFRICA: University collaboration in the Cape
Alison Moodie
For years South African higher education institutions have worked on a variety of initiatives to promote regional collaboration, but many have failed. The Cape Higher Education Consortium, or CHEC, which was launched under a different name and guise in 1993 in response to severe budget constraints during the collapse of the apartheid state, is one of the few really successful university collaboration initiatives.
Full report on the University World News site:

HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

AUSTRALIA: Universities underpin successful societies
Professor Richard Larkins*
At their best, universities play a vital role in society. They lie at the centre of a competitive, knowledge-based economy. They are responsible for the education of our leaders, innovators, creators and highly skilled workforce including health professionals, lawyers, engineers and teachers. They provide life-transforming opportunities to young people and stimulate the economy of the centres in which they are located.
Full paper on the University World News site:

US: First edition of community engagement journal
The inaugural edition of The Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education has been published by the Center for Public Service and Community Engagement at Indiana State University in the US. It is an online refereed journal that investigates community engagement and community-based learning perspectives, research and practice.
More on the University World News site:

US: Students more engaged — survey
Although budget cuts have many educators worried about the quality of education students receive, an annual survey released last week suggests that institutions in the US — large and small, public and private — can achieve significant gains, writes Scott Jaschik for Inside Higher Ed. The National Survey of Student Engagement does not measure learning per se, but a series of qualities of student engagement that are widely believed to correlate with learning, ranging from the rigour of assignments to faculty-student interactions to certain 'high impact' experiences that are praised as making students more engaged, more likely to stay enrolled and graduate, and more likely to learn more.
More on the University World News site:

U-SAY

AUSTRALIA: Staff distinction is nonsense
From Professor Marcia Devlin*
Having started my career in the higher education sector as a professional staff member, and as a current member of the Association of Tertiary Education Management that Maree Conway and Giles Pickford contribute to, I agree with Maree and Giles in their comments in the last two editions of University World News that the distinction between different staff in universities is nonsense.
Full letter on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories

US: Fight the flu — get an education
American researchers have come up with a new, and rather compelling, reason to get an education — it can protect you from illnesses such as swine flu. A University of Michigan study has found that people who did not earn a high school diploma are not only more likely to get illnesses they may also find vaccines less effective compared with those who did graduate with a diploma.
Full report on the University World News site:

BRAZIL: Mini-dress student readmitted to university
A female Brazilian student who was expelled from a Sao Paulo university after her short dress sparked student protests has been allowed back after federal prosecutors opened an investigation into the case, reports Reuters.
More on the University World News site:

US: Case spotlights Dead Sea Scrolls, fake e-mails
Students and university officials started getting e-mails last year in which a prominent Judaic studies scholar seemed to make a startling confession: he had committed plagiarism. The messages, it turned out, were a hoax. Prosecutors filed criminal charges in New York, saying a lawyer sent the messages to tarnish the professor, his father's rival, writes Jennifer Peltz in The New York Times.
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FACEBOOK

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higher education worldwide and 1,550 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
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WORLD ROUND-UP

IRAN: Oxford condemned for honouring slain protester
Iran has protested to an Oxford University college over a scholarship in memory of the slain Iranian student who became an icon of mass street protests sparked by the disputed June election, writes Ali Akbar Dareini for Associated Press. In Tehran, a small group of hard-line women demonstrated on Wednesday against the scholarship in front of the British Embassy. The women chanted "Death to Britain", the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
More on the University World News site:

INDIA: March target for higher education laws — Sibal
India will introduce by March legislation to increase the quality and reach of higher education, Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibal said last week, writes Bibhudatta Pradhan for Bloomberg. The government will seek to create an independent accreditation agency that will set benchmarks for all universities and colleges in the country, Sibal said. It will also draw up laws to govern the entry of foreign institutions and a regulator for higher education.
More on the University World News site:

INDIA: 27,000 institutes of higher learning needed
More than 27,000 additional institutions of higher learning would be required to meet the targeted gross enrolment ratio of 30% for 2020, India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said last weekend, reports Sindh Today. "This figure includes 14,000 colleges of general higher education, 12,775 additional technical and professional institutions and 269 additional universities," he told the Ministry's consultative committee.
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INDIA: Task force to tackle academic shortage
Having advanced the gross enrolment ratio in higher education to a highly ambitious 16% by the end of 11th Plan, India's Human Resource Development Ministry has set up a task force to find a solution to deal with an acute shortage of academics and to work out an incentive plan aimed at better remuneration and greater societal respect, writes Akshaya Mukul for The Times of India.
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NORWAY: University rejects boycott of Israel
An academic boycott of Israel by the Trondheim-based Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, was averted on Thursday when its executive board unanimously rejected the controversial move, writes Cnaan Liphshiz for Haaretz.
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US: Budget-cutting strategies reviewed
Scrambling to address revenue shortfalls, the hardest hit public universities in the US most often chose to delay deferred maintenance projects, cut staff and reduce contingent faculty positions, according to a survey released last week by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. But those institutions still have plenty of "strategic" thinking to do about long-term solutions, the survey found, writes Jack Stripling for Inside Higher Ed.
More on the University World News site:

CANADA: The insecurity of higher education research
Academics are often characterised (and caricatured) as pompous, confident that they are the smartest people in the room and eager to prove it. But arrogance and insecurity are sometimes flip sides of one coin, and the professoriate has seen a rash lately of scholars expressing dismay at their perceived marginalisation. But when it comes to a field with an inferiority complex, few have it over scholars who study higher education, writes Doug Lederman for Inside Higher Ed.
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CHINA: 1,000 scholarships to learn Chinese teaching
China has announced it will award scholarships to 1,021 foreign applicants for a masters programme in Chinese language teaching, in an effort to cultivate teachers able to meet increasing overseas demand to learn the language, the official Xinhua news agency reports. Statistics show that around 40 million people overseas are learning Chinese. The figure is estimated to reach 100 million by 2010, creating a high demand for teachers.
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TAIWAN: President calls for more classes in English
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou pledged to increase the international competitiveness of the country's universities and said he expected more colleges to offer courses taught in English, Mo Yan-chih reports for the Taipei Times. Ma said the government expected to double the percentage of foreign students to 2.6% in the near future.
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PERU: Fighting the odds to keep Indian tongues alive
In his first year at San Marcos University in Peru, Hermenegildo Espejo barely spoke, and certainly not in class, writes Frank Bajak for Associated Press. His Spanish was rudimentary, his accent an embarrassment. Classmates in Lima, a two-day trip from his Amazon home town, laughed at his grammatical stumbles. Six years later, Espejo is a thesis away from a degree in linguistics at Peru's top public university. While his Spanish is now excellent, it is not his priority. He aspires to produce the first unified grammar of Awajun, his native tongue.
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UK: Students to shame MPs who don't oppose fees rise
Student leaders have promised to name and shame every MP who refuses to sign a pledge to oppose a rise in university tuition fees, the Guardian has learned, writes Jessica Shepherd. In a letter to the Guardian last week, the student leaders of more than 85 universities and higher education institutes in the UK pledged to break the two main political parties' "cosy consensus of silence" on fees.
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UK: Any student, any subject, anywhere
Mandy has been on a study trip to the Sistine chapel without going to Italy. Tina, while working as a full-time carer, has been taking a free university course in psychology on another continent. And Scott has recently secured a degree from an online university on the basis of learning, largely acquired at work. New web technologies are driving a revolution, not only in the way students consume and institutions deliver higher education, but in the very idea of what makes a university, writes Harriet Swain for The Guardian.
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BAHRAIN: New university combats entrenched attitudes
At Bahrain Polytechnic, a lecturer displays a controversial Ralph Lauren advertisement in which a model's waist appears smaller than her head and asks students how they would avoid a similar marketing debacle, writes Abeer Allam for the Financial Times. For further education in the Arab world, this is a fresh approach. Formal lectures and rote learning are the dominant teaching methods in public universities rather than the development of problem solving skills or practical knowledge.
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GHANA: University to train skilled people for oil sector
The University of Ghana at Legon is holding discussions with oil companies in the country about training human resources for the sector, reports Joy Online. Some programmes relating to the oil sector have already been approved by the university council and others are being planned, in close collaboration with the industry.
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US: Universities look for heat underground
In an effort to cut their carbon footprints, a handful of universities around America are turning to ground-source heat exchangers and geothermal heating — sometimes with the help of federal financing — writes Kate Galbraith for the The New York Times Green Inc blog.
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Sunday 8 November 2009

University World News 0100 - 8th November 2009

This week sees the publication of the hundreth issue of University World News.
Visit the site for a brief history of the first year.

NEWS: Our correspondents worldwide report

GLOBAL: Break-up means new global rankings
David Jobbins
The UK-based Times Higher Education has ditched its long-term partner in its annual World University Rankings in a move that will expand the number of international league tables published next year to five. A six-year collaboration between the THE and QS, the business education information network, ended last week when the magazine announced a deal with research data spec ialist Thomson Reuters to provide the rankings.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: World's top business schools
Karen MacGregor
Western Europe and North America share the lead in the latest Eduniversal global top business schools ranking, published online in a special explanatory supplement in University World News on Friday. Both regions have 34 schools in the top 100 followed by Far Eastern Asia with 17 institutions. Only two of nine geographical regions — Eurasia and the Middle East, and Central Asia — have no schools represented among the top 100.
Full report on the University World News site:

CZECH REPUBLIC: Degree audit follows corruption claims
Nick Holdsworth
Czech Minister of Education Miroslava Kopicova has ordered a national audit of all university degrees awarded since 2000 after allegations of widespread corruption at a provincial university. The audit will cover 315,000 students who graduated in the past nine years. It follows revelations that a number of students had been awarded law degrees by the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen after only a few months of study.
Full report on the University World News site:

TURKEY: Earthquake binds university to its community
Rebecca Warden
A decade ago, a major earthquake hit the Marmara region near Istanbul in Turkey. More than 17,000 people lost their lives, many more were injured and 600,000 were left homeless. In the days and months that followed, Sakarya University near the epicentre of the disaster in Adapazari played a leading role coordinating the efforts of NGOs and international assistance. Ten years on, the experience has changed the university and providing services to the local community is now an integral part of its mission.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: A brave new world for higher education
Diane Spencer
In a wide-ranging set of proposals for the future of higher education, the Labour government includes plans for strengthening Britain's place in the international student market by promoting a strong 'UK HE' brand. Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary who is also in charge of higher education, last week unveiled Higher Ambitions — the Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy.
Full report on the University World News site:

UK: Top scholars should lead research universities
Diane Spencer
Research universities should be led by brilliant scholars and not merely talented managers, says Warwick University fellow Amanda Goodall. It is not sufficient for leaders to have management skills alone, Goodall states in a new book whose publication coincides with the Labour government's announcement of a new framework for higher education to encourage greater input from the business sector.
Full report on the University World News site:

US-PAKISTAN: $45 million for higher education
Following suicide attacks on a major Pakistani university that left at least eight people dead, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the United States would contribute $45 million to Pakistan's Higher Education Commission. Clinton said the money would be used to expand relationships between Pakistani universities and US institutions through increased academic exchanges as well as university and technical education for students displaced by violence.
Full report on the University World News site:

University World News at the Canadian International Education Conference
CANADA: Crisis hot topic at conference
Philip Fine The economic downturn's effect on the international education activities of universities will be a hot topic this week as a conference that brings together those involved in academic exchanges, international student recruitment and study-abroad programmes gets under way.
Full report on the University World News site:

FIJI-AUSTRALIA: Academic deported for criticisms
Geoff Maslen
An Australian National University academic Professor Brij Lal was arrested and then deported from Fiji last Thursday after criticising the military regime during media interviews. Lal teaches at the ANU's College of Asia and the Pacific and, although born in Fiji, he has Australian citizenship, is an expert on Fiji politics and helped draft the country's constitution in 1997.
Full report on the University World News site:

GERMANY: Minister vows to defend "education republic"
Michael Gardner
Annette Schavan is to remain Germany's Federal Minister of Education and Research. Schavan said she would do all she could to maintain the country's role as an "education republic", and that this must not be jeopardised by tax reliefs.
Full report on the University World News site:

VIETNAM: Life gets harder for students
Dale Down
In a country where even the most patient person can be severely tested, Vietnam's university students are facing yet another hurdle in completing their studies. Having classes scheduled in different campuses means that constant traffic jams force many students to miss classes because they are unable to reach them in time.
Full report on the University World News site:

NORWAY: Oslo should not recruit its graduates
Jan Petter Myklebust
The University of Oslo in Norway has commissioned a report from McKinsey & Co as part of its 2010-2020 strategic plan. One objective is to strengthen research and become a world-class university. But the report, University of Oslo — Towards a leading research university, has angered Norwegians by stating that it should not recruit internal applicants with a degree for scientific positions.
Full report on the University World News site:

NEWSBRIEFS

EUROPE: Scoring university autonomy
Ard Jongsma
Under the supervision of the European University Association, a comparative study to be launched on 30 November will map university autonomy in 34 European countries. The study will form the basis for a scorecard system to benchmark university autonomy after 2011.
Full report on the University World News site:

GREECE: Violence erupts at Athens university
Makki Marseilles
Several students were taken to hospital, fortunately with minor injuries, following a weekend of violence by warring factions at the Athens Economic University. The violence occurred for no apparent reason other than a settling of accounts and defence of what teaching staff and students called their "client interests".
Full report on the University World News site:

RUSSIA: Fears over restrictions on foreign involvement
Nick Holdsworth
Fears that St Petersburg University was planning to introduce tight controls on academic foreign involvement were eased after authorities said researchers in areas with no national security implications would be exempt.
Full report on the University World News site:

AUSTRALIA-GERMANY: Funding for research projects
The Group of Eight research intensive universities last week announced funding of 36 new joint research projects worth A$1.2 million (US$1.09 million) under the Go8-Germany Research Cooperation Scheme.
Full report on the University World News site:

BUSINESS

GLOBAL: Business schools focus on ethics
Leah Germain
While many countries around the world are fighting to reverse the effects of the global economic meltdown, some of the top international business schools are transferring valuable lessons learned from the global recession into new course curricula. Universities and business schools are developing MBA programmes that provide greater scope for studies in ethical business practices following the spate of scandals that helped fuel the recession.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Vocational education vital
Alan Osborn
If the world is to make a sound and lasting recovery from the recession more attention should be paid to vocational training, even by the better-off countries, says the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Full report on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Auto makers ranked by sustainability
Keith Nuthall
Experts from three European universities have unveiled findings that some auto makers are wasting billions of euros' worth of environmental and social resources. The researchers warn this could add unnecessary costs to the auto industry's already heavy financial burden.
Full report on the University World News site:

US: VoiceVerified ensures student authentication
Leah Germain
Universities around the world have long harnessed the power of the internet to provide education online. But, with the advent of web-based learning, higher education institutions are facing a serious issue: how to ensure identity security for students emailing in papers and examinations, thereby preventing cheating.
Full report on the University World News site:

FEATURES

GLOBAL: Comparing prominent league tables
Gavin Moodie*
Demand for world university league tables will last for as long as large numbers of students study internationally. All world university league tables have limitations or flaws, and many have both. There should therefore continue to be changes in the league tables until there is a reconciliation of the expectations of them and the rankers' capacity to meet those expectations.
Full report with comparisons of various league tables are on the University World News site:

GLOBAL: Challenges and threats to top institutions
Phil Baty*
Last year, the Times Higher Education magazine asked the heads of some of the world's top ranked universities: "What makes your university a world leader?" The answers were illuminating and often inspiring. Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal of McGill University in Canada, boasted that her institution was Canada's "most international university". Munroe-Blum said: "Our 200,000 alumni live in 180 countries worldwide, and our students currently hail from 160 countries".
Full report on the University World News site:

HE RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

CHILE: Universities in transition
Jorge Katz and Randy Spence*
Major aspects of the structure and performance of Chilean university markets demand careful re-structuring in the years ahead. Although higher education exhibits a successful record of expansion, signs of fatigue can be clearly identified. Future growth of the Chilean economy requires faster productivity growth and the strengthening of international competitiveness, and this can only be attained on the basis of a much better-trained labour force. Chile also demands better political governance, which requires significant improvements in equity of access and quality in tertiary education markets.
Full article on the University World News site:

US: Globalization's Muse — New book from Berkeley
Universities and national higher education systems have become Globalization's Muse — "in essence, a widely recognised and worshiped route for full participation in the knowledge society", says a new book from Berkeley edited by John Aubrey Douglass, C Judson King and Irwin Feller. With contributions from 19 US and international authors, the study describes and analyses changes in the global landscape of higher education with focuses on the themes of convergence, competition and congruity of policy and practices.
Full report on the University World News site:

U-SAY

AUSTRALIA: Abandon feudal relationships
From Giles Pickford
Maree Conway is right in her comment on Professor Marcia Devlin's article: the energy and creativity of professional staff are vital to a university. Thirty years ago they used to be called the menial staff, then the downstairs staff, then the general staff, and now the most demeaning of all names, the non-academic staff — defined by what they are not.
Full letter on the University World News site:

FRANCE: No impact on joblessness
From John Mullen
I refer to last week's article on student job prospects in France. It seems to me that such a measure will have no effect whatsoever on unemployment: if nine out of 10 engineering students get a job quickly, and only seven out of 10 economics students, that does not mean that if far more young people take engineering companies will hire more people!
Full letter on the University World News site:

UNI-LATERAL: Off-beat university stories

US: Sacked professor reinstated — then reprimanded
A professor who pointed out that his college's s exual harassment policy contained no protection for someone who was falsely accused - and was later fired for s exual harassment himself - has been reinstated but then reprimanded for unspecified "offensive" speech.
Full report on the University World News site:

FACEBOOK

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higher education worldwide. More than 1,500 readers have joined. Sign up to the University World News Facebook group to meet and communicate directly with academics and researchers informed by the world's first truly global higher education publication. Click on the link below to visit and join the group.
Visit the University World News group on Facebook:

WORLD ROUND-UP

CHINA: Education minister dismissed
Facing rising criticism over the quality of schools and a crush of jobless college graduates, China's legislature announced last Monday that it had removed Minister of Education Zhou Ji after six years on the job and replaced him with a deputy, writes Michael Wines for The New York Times. His dismissal follows a corruption scandal involving a university in Wuhan, where Zhou had been mayor and, before that, president of another university. Zhou has not been publicly linked to the corruption charges, which remain under investigation.
More on the University World News site:

CHINA: Second only to US in research — Thomson Reuters
Chinese researchers have more than doubled their output of scientific papers and now are second only to the United States in terms of volume, according to a report from Thomson Reuters released last Monday. Chinese researchers published 20,000 research papers in 1998. This ballooned to nearly 112,000 in 2008, with China passing Japan, Britain and Germany in terms of annual output, according to Reuters. During the same time US researchers increased output from 265,000 to 340,000 publications a year, a gain of around 30%.
More on the University World News site:

CHINA: The long march
From a near-standing start in 1978, China is now the world's biggest provider of higher education and the second-biggest producer of academic research papers. Before long, it is expected to become the world's biggest economy. But higher education is at something of a crossroads, writes Phil Baty for Times Higher Education.
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IRAN: Crack-down on protestors and students
Iran's infamous basiji attacked opposition demonstrators on Wedenesady, the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, reports Asia News. Some people were reportedly killed and at least 35 were arrested, many of them students from Tehran University, as anti- and pro-government supporters clashed at the annual rally.
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US: Insult to injury
Already wounded by budget reductions that came in July and before, US college leaders are now scrambling to squeeze even more from coffers, daunted by the real expectation that there are further cuts still to come, writes Jack Stripling for Inside Higher Ed. With the academic year in full swing, 26 states have now seen budget shortfalls that total US$16 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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US: Ranks of millionaire college presidents up again
A record 23 US private college and university presidents received more than $1 million in total compensation in the 2008 fiscal year, according to an analysis of the most recently available data published last week by the Chronicle of Higher Education. And one in four in the study of 419 colleges' mandatory IRS filings made at least $500,000, writes Justin Pope for Associated Press.
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UK: Universities make £60 billion a year for economy
Universities generate almost £60 billion (US$99 billion) a year for the UK economy — more than agriculture and the pharmaceutical industry — a study revealed last week, writes Jessica Shepherd for The Guardian. The report by researchers at Strathclyde University, commissioned by the umbrella group for vice-chancellors Universities UK, will be used by heads of universities to lobby ministers to allow a rise in students' tuition fees.
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SCOTLAND: Rectors mount assault against return of fees
Leading figures from Scotland's ancient universities have grouped together to mount an assault against the possible return of tuition fees to Scottish universities, writes Edd McCracken for the Sunday Herald.
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AUSTRALIA: Universities slate infrastructure spending cut
Australian universities last week condemned as misplaced the federal government's decision to pull A$200 million (US$181 million) of promised infrastructure funding from the sector as Canberra winds back its stimulus spending, write Andrew Trounson and Justine Ferrari for The Australian.
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UK: Scientist vows to set up new drug body
The drugs adviser controversially sacked by the UK government says he will establish a new scientific committee if the current advisory body disbands, reports BBC News. Professor David Nutt was removed from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recently after saying cannabis was less harmful than tobacco or drink.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Students trash Zululand university
Students burned and trashed parts of the University of Zululand in South Africa last week causing serious damage, writes Sinegugu Ndlovu for The Mercury. Security on the campus has been beefed up, with more police deployed. The university has been tense since a student election on 5 October in which a political opposition-supporting student group was penalised for failing to meet the deadline to submit a list of candidates.
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INDONESIA: Call to not revoke university entry test
The Regional Representatives Council, or DPD, has urged Indonesia's Education Minister Muhammad Nuh to delay a plan to recruit state university students based on their national final school examination results, writes Hasyim Widhiarto for The Jakarta Post. State universities currently recruit most of their students through admission tests.
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